Does a market economy encourage the creation of music, literature, and the visual arts -- or discourage it? Do economic forces of supply and demand help or harm the pursuit of creativity? Economist Tyler Cowen argues that the capitalist market economy is a vital but underappreciated institutional framework for supporting a plurality of co-existing artistic visions, providing a steady stream of new and satisfying creations, supporting both high and low culture, helping consumers and artists refine their tastes, and paying homage to the past by capturing, reproducing and disseminating it.
